LA Light

Electric radiance of Los Angeles at night. Still incredible after I originally posted this back in 2011

LA Light from Colin Rich on Vimeo.

Colin Rich’s interpretation of the city captures the downtown district including a memorable reverse view of the Hollywood sign. Colin’s “LA Light” journey serves as a homage to the best of LA’s landmarks at night.

The most notable benchmark for cinematic brilliance of LA’s nighttime hues and tones could be Michael Mann’s 1995 feature film, ‘Heat‘.

This movie captured a quiet ambience, albeit with some lesser known architecture.

I sought out to capture the electric radiance of Los Angeles at night. It took me 6 months of on and off shooting to finish this project and I’ve learned a couple things along the way. First off, LA might be the entertainment capital of the world, but it sure is difficult to shoot around downtown without having homeland security officers, police, or security take notice and harass you. Know your shooting rights! Shooting time lapses is a labor of love and a study in patience.

This motion fanfare pleases the eye with dark greens and grey tones, hues of neon and vibrant swishing energy. Colin’s backstory of the challenges of filming (on his vimeo page) included some LA insights from user Better Yeti:

“I ride up to the helipad on my mountain bike a couple times a week, and I’m always seeing people getting hauled off when they try to hop the cyclone fence and get down to the sign. The cops aren’t fooling around. Every now and then they send out the helicopter, and the ominous PA blast: “GET AWAY FROM THE SIGN”. Very dystopian/1984-ish”.